I’ve been shipping parts back and forth between our office in the States and our German office and have been getting many damaged parts on both ends. We are packaging the same parts for delivieries here within the States and are not having problems. These are generally small boxes with single parts placed in bubblewrap. Sometimes 3 out 4 parts show damages/defects upon arrival. It’s a thin cosmetic piece made out of polyprophelene and is showing white stress marks at the attachment points.
What could be causing the damage? Is the air traffic for overseas freight flying at a lower and more turbulant altitude? Do the customs people kick around parts from other countries for fun? Are the planes unheated and subjecting the parts to temperatures that would make them more subsebtable to damage. I’ve even tried double boxing the parts (with bubblewrap between the boxes) which helps, but even then one or two out of ten still get damaged.
I suspect that being handeled by multiple ship points doesn’t help. I also suspect that the damage is coming from vibration since the boxes usually don’t show any damage. Is there something I’m missing here.:dubious:
Int’l shipments, by virtue of where they are going, do go through more hands. And each transfer increases the probablity of damage/loss. If customs opens the package, which would increase probability even more, you (or the consignee) would know it. Having a freight forwarding business, and regularly moving int’l shipments, the only thing that comes to mind is that the containers in which cargo rides (very little rides loose) might be packed tighter because space is more expensive.
The shape of a piece can also impact damage or loss. Flat pieces get lost more often because they get “slipped” behind other pieces.
What is the shape/wt of these pieces?
Are you aware that carrier liabilty for loss/damge to int’l/air shipments is much higher than domestic? $9.08/lb.
There are several products like this. However, most carriers’ Terms and Conditions specify the carrier will not consider what they may or may not reveal in adjudicating claims. Further, unless the shipment rests on a pallet, there’s no promise it won’t be tipped, turned upside down, etc.
Best protection is through your company’s insurance policy. Coverge purchased through carriers is not cost effective, to say the least.
You misunderstand.
I don’t mean that you ought use these tools and cry foul to your shipping companies.
Rather, I suggest you use these tools as a diagnostic measure, to figure out the boundaries of your items’ experiences.
I think it’s more productive to experiment, i.e. try to reproduce the type of damage you are seeing in the shipped items, or just inspecting the items.
You say it’s a polyprophelene item, and you mention “stress marks at attachment points.” Attachment to what? Is it shipped attached to some type of backing?
Is it possible the packaging material is too hard, and is transmitting stress on the box to the item inside? Or too loose and allowing the item inside to shift?
Is there seasonal dependence (e.g. more damage in winter)?
You mention bubble wrap, I wonder if the bubbles expand a little bit during the flight and cause stress. Then again, this should happen in domestic air shipments as well.
It’s an piece of automotive style trim that wraps around 3 faces of a box like structure about 12" x 20" x 6" and is attached at seven points to the main product.
I’m more concerned about the impact on timing for reviews with our customer than I am with getting paid for the damages.
I would think that bubble wrap would shrink in flight due to lower temperatures and pressures. But there is definitly some type of force getting to the part that does no damage to the outside of the box, most likely vibration. Perhaps the bubble wrap is shrinking and letting it bounce around in the box, hmmm . . .:dubious:
I like the idea of using shock/temp watch type devices, I think I’ll run with this idea and make it my own. Thanks Mr. Slant.
I might suggest having your engineers or manufacturing types manufacture styrofoam pieces that will function as “molds” surrounding the item.
I’d need to have seen the item to know if that’s really a good idea, but it’s a thought.
Thanks Mr. Slant.